Feature GB193: What is the order of adnominal property word and noun?

Patrons: Jeremy Collins and Jay Latarche

Description ⇫

Summary

Adnominal property words are also known as "adjectives", in particular in those languages where they make up a separate word class. We want to include elements that mark ‘adjectival’ function but that might not be described as ‘adjectives’, see GB069. The question concerns the pragmatically neutral order(s).

Procedure

  1. Code 1 if most adnominal property words are placed before nouns.
  2. Code 2 if most adnominal property words are placed after nouns.
  3. Code 3 if adnominal property words can be placed before or after nouns, either because both orders are possible or because some adjectives precede and some follow the noun.
  4. Code 0 if property words cannot be used attributively.
  5. Do not code 0 if property words are a sub-class of verbs: code 1, 2 or 3.

Examples

Amma (ISO 639-3: amm, Glottolog: amap1240)

Coded 3, adjectives may be placed before and after the noun.

sopo nu    siyoli 
tall house big
‘a big and tall house’ (Årsjö 1999: 94)

Maco (ISO 639-3: wpc, Glottolog: maco1239)

Coded 2, when adjectives are used attributively they usually follow the underived noun.

wiɾi ɨwaɾi-ˀbo       dew-aˀbo            hũn-an-õ-∅
dog  tail-CL.OBLONG  be.white-CL.OBLONG  have-DUR-CL.M-3.COP
‘the dog has a white tail’ 
(lit. a tail that is white=a tail a white one) (Rosés Labrada 2015: 283)

Ghadames (ISO 639-3: gha, Glottolog: ghad1239)

Coded 0, attribution of adjectival concepts is basically achieved by means of relative clauses with stative verbs in the participial form. 

tawz̆aett=e   măttít-ăt 
girl=DEM     small.PFV-PTCP.F.SG
‘this small girl (lit. this girl that was small)’ (Kossmann 2013:129)

Further reading

Dryer, Matthew S. 2013. Order of Adjective and Noun. In Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds), The world atlas of language structures online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

References

Årsjö, Britten. 1999. Words in Ama. Uppsala: Uppsala University, D-level.

Kossmann, Maarten. 2013. A grammatical sketch of Ghadames Berber (Libya). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.

Rosés Labrada, Jorge E. 2015. The Mako language: Vitality, Grammar and Classification. London, Ontario: University of Western Ontario. (Doctoral dissertation.)


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0 they cannot be used attributively 45
1 ANM - N 514
2 N - ANM 1237
3 both 321
? Not known 145
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Values ⇫

Name Glottocode Family Macroarea Contributor Value Source Comment